In Pursuit of Performance

by Ingraham, Patricia W.

• ISBN13: 9780801885686
• ISBN10: 080188568X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-04-02
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

Based on five years of extensive research by the Government Performance Project, this volume offers a comprehensive analysis of how government managers and elected officials use management and management systems to improve performance. Drawing on data from across the nation, it examines the performance of state, county, and city governments between 1997 and 2002 within the framework of five basic management systems: financial information, human resources, capital and infrastructure, and results evaluation. Key issues addressed:How governments strategically select which elements of management to emphasizeThe role of leadershipHow those governments that aim to improve performance differ from those that do not What "effective management" looks like Through this careful, in-depth investigation, the contributors conclude that the most effective governments are not those with the most resources, but those that use the resources available to them most carefully and strategically. In Pursuit of Performance is an invaluable tool for government leaders and the scholars who study them.

Author Biography

Patricia W. Ingraham is Founding Dean at the College of Community and Public Affairs, Binghamton University. She is the author of The Foundation of Merit: Public Service in American Democracy and coauthor of Government Performance: Why Management Matters, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Studying state and local management systems : why we need to do it	p. 1
Putting money where the need is : managing the finances of state and local governments	p. 15
Underpinning government : capital and infrastructure management in state and local government	p. 57
Government's largest investment : human resource management in states, counties, and cities	p. 82
The performance challenge : information technology management in states, counties, and cities	p. 117
The reality of results : managing for results in state and local government	p. 151
Integration of management systems in state and local government	p. 178
Learning to build capacity : applying the GPP model to other governments	p. 195
Counting the ways management matters to performance	p. 212
The analytical model for the GPP	p. 233
Criteria used by GPP analysts	p. 235
Governments evaluated by the GPP	p. 237
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